History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 99

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424

USA > Illinois > Mercer County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 99
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 99

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The Methodist Episcopal church, of Olena, was organized in the year 1836 or 1837. Prominent among the first members were Joseph Watson, Nathaniel Marston, and William Cowden. Elder Jesse Woodruff was the first pastor. He was followed by Rev. Arrington, and he by Father West. All of these pioneer preachers have gone to their reward, the first and last-mentioned having died in Warren county ; Elder Arrington in the West. At first the services were held from house to house; afterward the church purchased the building now occupied as a dwelling by Mrs. Jos. Nebergall, in Olena, and held their meetings in it until 1855. They then built their present building, a substantial edifice, 30×40, at a cost of $2,200. This building was dedicated by Rev. Joseph S. Cumming, now of Abingdon College. The church has at present a membership of twenty-five. Rev. David McLish is pastor. They hold an interesting Sabbath school during the

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summer, with an average attendance of thirty-five. Mr. George Detrick is superintendent.

The Evangelical Orthodox church is the outgrowth of a long-felt want of religious service, in a large community of wealthy farmers in the southern part of this township. The plan originated with Messrs. A. J. Davis, J. H. Strodtman, John Evans, Jr., and Herman Annegers, Jr. They are just completing an elegant and commodious church, which will cost when finished about $1,500. The building will be in size 28×42, with sixteen foot ceiling, and will be dedicated free of debt. The church organization is undenominational and independent. Several of the leading denominations are represented in its member- ship: Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, and Baptists. They have preaching every Sabbath, alternately by a Methodist Episcopal and a United Presbyterian minister.

SCHOOLS.

The first school in T. 9 N., 5 W., was opened in a log cabin, twelve feet square, erected on the northwest corner of the southwest quarter of section twelve, opposite the Watson cemetery, east of Olena. It was after the usual primitive pattern : slab floor, slab benches, no desks but one used for writing. This was a broad board fastened by braces to the wall. Over this institution the first to preside was Mr. James H. Beveridge, brother of the ex-governor of Illinois. Mr. Beveridge is now an extensive dairy farmer near Somonank, Illinois. This early school numbered twenty pupils, some of whom came several miles. This building was abandoned, and fell to pieces. It was fol- lowed by a frame building, since removed to Olena, and occupied now by the store of Ira Putney, Jr. The readjustment of the district caused the next building to be located in Olena, the same first used by the Methodist Episcopal church. The present house was erected in 1857. The average attendance is about forty ; the wages from thirty- five to forty-five dollars.

The next building for school purposes was put up on section 9, a year or two later than the preceding. It was used about four years, when Messrs. T. J. Fort and J. G. Harbison built a frame school-house on Mr. Fort's farm. This was occupied until about 1860, and then sold, the district at the same time putting up a new house on section 4.

The first. school in district No. 4 was held at the residence of Hiram Brooks, on the farm now owned by A. J. Davis, Esq. A building was erected on the southwest quarter of section twenty-nine. This building took fire from a defective flue and burned to the ground, December 28, 1870. Another house was erected on the same site,

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but was subsequently removed to its present location by vote of the district.

The South Prairie school opened first in 1843. in a log cabin. situ- ated on section thirty-two. It was mainly through the efforts of Thos. Nichols. Excellent teachers were procured in young men from the East. In 1850 the efforts of Judge R. W. Goddis and Wm. Turner secured a better building on the present site. The school outgrowing its domicile, a new building was determined upon. Through the in- fluence of the teacher at that time, Mr. J. H. Stevens, a plan was adopted that gave the district the finest building the writer has ever seen in a rural district. The dimensions are 28×36, with 12-foot ceiling. Eight feet is taken off the south end for a hall, the entrance to which is protected by a covered entrance way. At either end of the hall is a cloak room. The main room is twenty-eight feet square, wainscoted and grained, with excellent furniture and blackboard. The neat cupola on the south end of the building contains a 300-pound bell, secured by a subscription headed and pushed by Mr. Stevens, the teacher. Mr. Stevens was very properly installed as teacher over the new building, and has the reputation of having made the school do credit to the generosity of the patrons.

District No. S was organized in 1860, but there had been a school there for three years preceding, held in a board shanty, built for the purpose. This shanty was a novelty in the way of school buildings. It was built of rough boards, covered with matched flooring, bent over the top after the fashion of a railway car. It was furnished with benches, and the customary writing desk along the wall. It was after- ward plastered, and made comfortable for winter occupancy. This building was used until the summer of 1862. During the winter of 1862-3 Mr. John Marshall taught the school in his own house. The following summer the present building was erected, at a cost of about $600. The first teacher in the shanty was Daniel McMillen, now a practicing physician near Aledo, Mercer county, Illinois.

The first school. building at Warren was a small brick, erected in 1845. Mr. Wm. Ingerson was the teacher for the first seven years, and, indeed, has taught the school the greater part of the time since its organization. The giving of its sandy foundation caused the ruin of the building. It was followed, in 1860, by a large frame house, built conjointly by the old school Presbyterian church, and the school dis- trict, the lower part being a school room, and the upper adapted for church services.

A subscription library is a promising movement just successfully started. A temporary organization has been effected, with J. S.

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Bennington as president ; George Curry, vice-president ; W. S. Lukins, secretary : Miss Annie Watson, treasurer ; R. P. Randall, librarian. They have now on hand 100 volumes of well selected works, including standard works in all the principal departments of literature.

Of secret fraternities only the I.O.O.F. is represented by lodges in this township. The Warren Lodge, No. 554, I.O.O.F., was organized in 1874, with the following charter members: Miles Sells, B. G. Phillips, Geo. W. Davis. Willis Anderson, John M. Davis, and J. S. Bennington. The first officers were: N.G., John M. Davis; V.G., Willis Anderson ; treasurer, B. G. Phillips ; secretary, J. S. Bennington. The present officers (June, 1882), are : N.G., Wm. Shull; V.G., J. H. Schroeder ; treasurer, Miles Sells ; secretary, William Ingerson. Since the establishment of the lodge over sixty have been enrolled as members.

The Olena Lodge, No. 662, I.O.O.F., was instituted July 1, 1879. The charter members were : Robert Rodman, T. J. Fort, John Harbin- son, John H. Stevens, I. P. Cowden, J. S. Bennington, W. J. McElhiney, and Geo. W. Fort. The first officers were: N.G., J. H. Stevens ; V.G., I. P. Cowden ; secretary, W. J. McElhiney ; treasurer, T. J. Fort ; deputy and representative, J. S. Bennington. The present officers are : N.G., H. G. King; V.G., M. G. Mckinley ; secretary, W. J. McElhiney ; treasurer, Robert Rodman ; deputy and representa- tive, W. J. McElhiney.

It would be unjust not to make, in closing, some mention of men who have come to this section, and for the most part gone again, some to their eternal resting place, some to homes farther west, or to the homes of their early life.

Jos. Watson, a man of much force and enterprise, was born in Rensselaer county, New York; was a blacksmith by trade; came to Illinois in 1835, bought a mill of Houchin, at Warren, in company with Hopper; sold the mill, and bought the N. W. { of Sec. 12, and opened a successful nursery ; was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church ; died May 9, 1874, of typhoid pneumonia.

Jason Lee Watson, son of preceding, born March 9, 1839 ; enlisted in 1861 in the 7th Ill. Vol. Inf., for three months ; re-enlisted in Co. E, 33d Ill. Inf., Col. Hovey ; killed in an unsuccessful charge at Vicksburg, March 22, 1863:

William Turner came to T. 9, R. 5, about 1850, and farmed a part of the N. W. } of Sec. 23; in 1854, bought a store in Olena ; sold a year after, and bought the S. E. ¿ of Sec. 23; removed to Kansas about 1870.

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

Elias Plumb came from New York about 1838; settled on the S. E. ¿ of Sec. 25; removed to Michigan to engage in the fruit busi- ness.

Hugh Lee came from Ohio about 1839, and settled on the W. ¿ of the N. W. } of Sec. 25, and the S. W. } of Sec. 24; sold to Samuel and Geo. Curry, in 1852; removed first to Warren county, afterward to Oregon.

James Harbison came from Indiana about 1836, or 1837 ; bought in Sec. 26; died there.

Wm. Cowden came from Trumbull county, Ohio; settled on S. E. and S.W. ¿ of Sec. 12. in 1835 ; was killed at Biggsville, by the caving of a bank which he was undermining at the mill at that place, Decem- ber 24, 1874, aged forty-seven years. He was active and prominent in public affairs.

Geo. W. Cowden was county sheriff previous to the war; enlisted in 1862 ; came home wounded ; recovered ; re-enlisted in Co. K, 84th Ill. Inf .: died August 20, 1864.

Hiram Brooks came from Michigan about 1838 ; settled on N. E. } of Sec. 32; died there October 1, 1846, aged sixty-two; the family re- moved to Colorado about 1850; his widow went with Mr. McFee to Kansas, and died there.

John Andrew was from Ohio; settled in 1835, on the Mendenhall place ; afterward bought the S. W. } of Sec. 14, and the N. W. } of Sec. 23; died in February, 1865; his wife survived him but a few weeks.

William Ingerson was born October 31, 1817, in Jefferson county, New York ; settled, after protracted wandering, in Henderson county. Taught the Warren school for several years, also various other schools. During the war he acted as enrolling officer for two drafts. Served a term as county superintendent of schools by appointment. Bought his farm in 1878, which he is conducting as a garden and fruit farm.

Ira Miller, born February 24, 1805, in Washington county, Penn- sylvania. Removed to Ohio in 1814, where he was equally well known as a teacher and cooper. Removed to Illinois in 1839, and settled near Warren. Died March 3, 1881.

Benjamin Franklin Foote, born in 1821, in Chenango county, New York. Was bound out at the age of eleven to a farmer; after his majority he worked out for two years. Came west in 1844; Bought the N. 3 of the S. E. } of Sec. 34, in connection with his brother. After six years he bought his brother's interest. At his death he owned 2,300 acres in Henderson county, and several hundred acres in other states.

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Rev. James McArthur, United Presbyterian minister, born Jan- uary 8, 1815, at Cambridge, Washington county, New York. Grad- uated at Franklin college, New Athens, Ohio, in 1841. Studied theology at Canonsburg, Ohio. Licensed July 3, 1845, by the Mus- kingnm Presbytery; ordained by Cambridge Presbytery October 11, 1846. Was pastor at Ryegate, Vermont, from October, 1846, to December, 1857. Was settled over the Ellison congregation, Hender- son county, July, 1859, and continued until he was retired as infirm, August, 1872. Has published a sermon on faith and a farewell ser- mon at Ryegate.

Stephen White was born in Pennsylvania, June 23, 1802. Came to Henderson county in the spring of 1838, and entered 400 acres of section 2. Died January 23, 1872.

Casparus Lant, born in Washington county, New York, in 1795 ; removed to Henderson county in 1839. He lived for fifteen years in T. 9, R. 4, and in 1854 removed to T. 9, R. 5. He is now infirm under his weight of years, but his wife is still hale at the age of eighty- three.

John Ginter came from Pennsylvania about 1837, and settled on section 26. After wrestling for several years with the lusts of the stomach, he returned to Pennsylvania "to eat one more huckleberry pie."

BIOGRAPHICAL.

JOHN S. PEASLEY was born near Montreal, Canada, July 8, 1813. He was married March 20, 1844, to Lucretia Crownover, of Lomax, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Peasley have had six children, four of whom are still living: Charles, on the home farm; George and Frank, in Colorado ; Mrs. Nathaniel Bruen, in T. 10, R. 5. Mr. Peasley came to Illinois early, although the precise year was not ascertained. He built the mill at Warren for Mr. Lambert Hopper, in 1842. He was very widely and favorably known.

HAMILTON EVANS, a son of John and Nancy (McDonald) Evans, was born January 19, 1828, in Monroe county, Ohio. His father is a native of Maryland, and his mother of Pennsylvania. They were married in Pennsylvania, moved to Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana, re- spectively, and finally in 1836 came to Illinois and secured eighty acres of land on Sec. 3, T. 9 N., R. 5 W., Henderson county. They wintered one-fourth mile south of the present site of Olena, in a log house already built. In the following year a log cabin 16×18 was erected and occupied. About 1847 Mrs. Evans died, and was buried in Olena cemetery. She was the mother of twelve children. Mr.

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Evans next married Mrs. Sarah (Waggy) Mills. In 1853 he sold his farm to his sons John and Hamilton. After a journey to Indiana and Ohio, he bought property in Oquawka, where he lived some years. Later he located at Gladstone, where he now resides. There are two children in the last family. Hamilton Evans was raised to all the rustie duties incident to a farmer's life. He was married August 31, 1853, to Ann B. White, a native of Greene county, Ohio, and who came with her father, Stephen White, to Henderson county about 1835. Mr. Evans settled one-fourth mile west of his present residence. In 1862 he occupied his present place, comprising now about 400 acres. The farm is largely the result of his own efforts and economy. In 1850 Mr. Evans, with his family, crossed the plains to California, and returned two years later.

JOHN CURTS (deceased), one of Henderson county's oldest and most prominent citizens, was born January 21, 1786, in Pennsylvania, near the west branch of the Susquehanna river. He was a son of Thomas Curts. His youth was spent largely on the water as a boatinan. His schooling was limited. When eighteen years old he aided N. Harvey quarry the stone for a mill, dress it, and build the mill. The old mill still operates. He was for a number of years a tide pilot. March 22, 1808, he was married to Temperance Fredericks, who was born Novem- ber 26, 1789. in Pennsylvania. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Curts kept tavern for some time. Mr. Curts also became interested in agri- culture and owned a good farm. He became engaged in iron smelting, but this departure proved a failure. In the fall of 1835, he made a trip to Warren county, Illinois. He remained the first winter with his cousin, Michael Crane, near what is now Lomax. He entered seven eighties of land in T. 9 N .. R. 5 W. In the following spring of 1836, his family of wife and children joined him and resided on a small piece of broken land on the Big, or Getting's, mound. In 1836 he broke the first furrow on his new farm, erected a cabin, but did not oeenpy the farm permanently till the spring of 1837. His time was henceforward occupied in the improvement of his home. His log cabin is now used as a stable. About 1846-7, he was a member of the state legislature, elected on the whig ticket. In religion he was a Presbyterian. He became one of the most successful men of the county. At his death, March 12, 1874, he was owner of about 1,800 acres of land. He was buried on the summit of the high bluff near his residence. His wife survived him till August 22, 1875. She sleeps near him. She was the mother of eight children, all born in Pennsylvania : Horatio became a lumberman at Shokokon, and the pineries of Wisconsin, and died October 2, 1868, aged fifty-nine years and twenty-six days ; Thomas

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remained in Pennsylvania ; Susan, Amelia, Eliza, Temperance, Anna B., and John F. John F. was born September 26, 1821. His life has been largely spent where he now lives. He owns the homestead and has largely improved it. His father was a man of many friends. The portrait of the Hon. John Curts is a tribute to his memory.

Among the men who have done most toward making Henderson county in general, and the township in which he resides in particular, is GEORGE CURRY, third child of Samuel Curry and Emma Whitting, both of Somersetshire, England. Samuel Curry removed to America in 1838, whither his son folloved him in 1841. The father settled first in Hendersonville, going from this place successively to Oquawka and Jack's Mills, in pursuit of the trade to which he was trained, brick making. In 1841 he settled at Biggsville, where George, the subject of this sketch, just from England, joined him. In 1852, Samuel Curry, in company with his son, George, purchased of Hugh Lee the S. W. } of Sec. 24, and the W. ¿ of N. W. Į of Sec. 25, T. 9 N., R. 5 W., upon which the father settled, afterward removing to Olena, where he died in 1878. His widow returned to Biggsville in 1880, and still re- sides there with her daughter. Mr. George Curry is a carpenter by trade, and Olena owes most of its dwellings to his mechanical skill. After coming to America, he followed his trade for many years at Biggsville, at Olena, and in the surrounding country. But he had always a strong tendency toward farming, and although actively en- gaged in carpentering for eight years after his removal to Olena in 1852, he found much time, also, to look after the interests of the farm which he had purchased in conjunction with his father. In 1854 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Ward, of Fitch- ville, Huron county, Ohio, and widow of Simon Nichols. They began their married life in Olena, for several years keeping a hotel in a house built by Mr. Curry's own hands. In 1862 he exchanged residences with his father. He remained on the farm for five years, at the expira- tion of which time he bought an interest in the store of Ira Putney, Jr. He continued in mercantile business with Mr. Putney, with the excep- tion of about three years, until 1876, when he retired to the farm which he had purchased of Thomas Kitchen, upon which he had built the fine residence he now occupies. Mr. Curry has long been greatly interested in fine stock, and to-day has the only considerable flock of sheep in the township, together with some fine shorthorn Durham cattle. His farm shows the thrift which is to be expected of the man who quietly, intel- ligently, and persistently attends to his own matters. Ever an ardent republican, and unable to see it any more right for whites to own blacks than for blacks to own whites, Mr. Curry is still no politician.

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

Nevertheless he is now serving his second term as county commis- sioner, and is looked upon as the most suitable man to be his own suc -. cessor. He himself makes no profession of religion, but his wife is a consistent member of the United Presbyterian church, of Olena. Mr. and Mrs. Curry have had three children, two of whom died in infancy. The remaining child, Charles H., married Viola Steele, daughter of Squire Cyrus W. Steele, and is now connected with his father in working the home farm.

In Otsego county, New York, in the town of Jacksonville, was born ROSWELL PAGE RANDALL, December 1, 1837, the ninth of the eleven children of Roswell Randall and Charlotte Page, both of New Eng- land. In 1849 the entire family removed to Kirkwood, Warren county, Illinois. The father was by trade a manufacturer of cloths, and for thirty years previous to his leaving New York was engaged in making the finest eassimeres. After coming to Kirkwood he followed farming. In December, 1877, he buried his aged wife, and in the fol- lowing July himself departed this life at a ripe old age. At the age of sixteen Roswell Page Randall, the subject of this sketch, left home, and for two years was engaged in clerking in stores at Monmouth, Illinois. In the fall of 1855 he came to Henderson county, living with his brother-in-law, Mr. Richey, and attending school. The next fall he returned to Warren county, and for three years taught school near Roseville. The community in which he taught was very rough, so rough that he dated his letters home " Heathen Land." For instruct- ing the fifty rude children of this rude district he received $27 per month, boarding himself, building his own fires, and wielding his own rod. In the fall of 1859 he came to Olena, and was for another space of three years engaged in teaching, most of this time at the Gaddes school house. The spring of 1862 found him in Oregon. Here, in the woods along the banks of the Columbia river, he taught until the fol- lowing spring, when he left for California. His services here as "brisk wielder of the birch and rule," were better paid, he receiving as much as $75 in gold per month. Returning in 1866 to Henderson county, he " kept school" in the David Rankin district until, in the fall of 1869, he was elected . county superintendent of schools, to succeed John Simpson. Just before the expiration of his term of office, in the spring of 1873, he bought of Dr. T. J. Maxwell the business he now owns, drugs and groceries. Mr. Randall's preparation for teaching was received in the district schools of New York and Illinois, his last year as a pupil being spent in the high school at Galva, Illinois, when he was twenty-one years of age. He had, moreover, excellent train- ing at home, six of his family having been teachers. He was married

George th. Dirson

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in 1867 to Eliza, daughter of Thomas and Lavina Nichols. He finds himself to-day the father of three children : Frederick Page, born in 1871 ; Roy Oscar, born in 1876 ; and Metta Gertrude, born in 1880. Mrs. Randall is an active member of the United Presbyterian church of Olena. Mr. Randall is an earnest, hard-working republican in politics, but has held no office but that of county superintendent of schools, referred to above.

CYRUS W. STEELE, the eldest child of James Steele and Elizabeth Peck, was born at Waynesborough, Augusta county, Virginia, in the year 1818. Both his parents were born and reared in the same county, where they were married and where their son was born. The father was of Irish, the mother of German extraction. His grandparents on both his father's and mother's side were actively engaged in the war of the revolution. James Steele, but a lad during the revolution, found opportunity to show his patriotism in the war of 1812. He was sta- tioned at Norfolk, Virginia, where the tedium of camp life was relieved by occasional encounters with the enemy. A rather ludicrous incident of this service was specially relished by the old man. One evening a certain Capt. Boyer saw, through the woods, the blazing camp-fires of some British soldiers. At once detailing a sufficient number of men, the doughty captain set forth to bring the enemy into camp. The party approached with stealthy step and circuitous route the hostile encamp- ment ; but, lo ! when they enter the clearing, there, bland and smiling, was the ruddy face of the rising full moon. The captain left his prize on the field. In 1818, when Cyrus was but two years of age, James Steele removed from his farm in Virginia to Greene county, Ohio. Here he buried his wife in 1827. He himself was laid beside her five years later, in the year 1832. Cyrus, thus thrown upon his own re- sources, remained in Ohio until the year 1840. During this time he learned the carpenter's trade and worked at it for several years. In 1840, his health failing, he went to Louisa county, Iowa. Leaving there, he came to Henderson county in 1841. Here he divided his time between carpentering and the saw-mill until 1856, when he pur- chased 120 acres in the S. W. ¿ of Sec. 10, T. 9 N., R. 5 W., where he still lives. He afterward sold four acres of this to obtain a saw-mill, which he ran for some time. The mill has since been removed. In 1851 he married Mrs. Susan Downs. They have had five children, the three youngest of whom are living: Elizabeth, Viola, and Franklin. Mr. Steele has two sisters living, Julia, in Greene county, Ohio, and Emily, near Indianapolis, Indiana. For a long series of years Mr. Steele has held public office, first as constable, afterward, as at present,

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History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 99

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co. Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424